Chip Kelly......FIRED!!!

Well after 3 seasons, 2 steps forward, an about 7 steps backwards, Chip Kelly has been fired as the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles

This was the first Eagle’s coach who the boys knew.  He came in just under 3 years ago from the University of Oregon.  It was an exciting hire at the time.  He went 10-6 in both of his first two seasons, making the playoffs the first season.  But things started to unravel as he got rid of players who didn’t buy into his system.  However this team imploded half way through this last season, with no signs of improvement.  Management had no choice but to give him the boot (even with one game left).  

ESPN release
Deadspin release
Philly.com
bleacherreport.com
Csnphilly.com

Dutch Wonderland

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End of soccer and football season (fall of 2015)

Final day of the season

Two stories to tell about this fall season of sports.

The first is about Christopher, and his first season of tackle football.  One night at practice, Chris’s team  was scrimmaging another team, and Chris was lined up in the defensive backfield as a safety.   This division is for 2^nd and 3^rd graders.  Chris is in 2^nd grade, and is probably the 3^rd smallest kid in the division.  

When the other team snapped the ball, they handed it off to a really big kid who came straight up through the middle.  He broke through the line and linebackers.  Chris took an angle to tackle him from the side.  Had Chris missed, the running back was gone for a touchdown.  Chris got his arms around the kid, but the kid was so big, Chris could not bring him down.  That didn’t stop Chris however, as he reached up with my hand to get a hold of the kids jersey.  He used that hand to leverage himself up the kids back with his other hand to get the back of the kid’s jersey around the back of his neck.  He got his hand inside the jersey, and brought the kid down by a horse collar tackle (which is completely illegal).  The running back’s knees buckled and he went down hard.  He did not get up.  He was in a lot of pain and they had to stop the scrimmage.  All the parents went “ooooh” when it happened.  It looked ugly.  As two of the coaches tended to the injured kid, another coach had taken Christopher to the side.  The coach got on his knee and it looked like (I could only see the hand gestures he was using) was educating Chris on what a horse-collar tackle was.   After a few minutes, the injured running back got up.  After the claps from the other players and parents, all the coaches got together and demonstrated what a horse-collar tackle was, and explained that it was an illegal tackle.  Christopher was not in any trouble, because nobody had ever coached the kids that this was an illegal tackle.  Its not something that normally ever happens at this age level, but because of Christopher, it is now something they have to educate 2^nd and 3^rd graders about.  Well done, Chris.

Happy Halloween

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

2015 Hershey Half Marathon

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Finisher's Medal

Delaware Mud Run

Delaware Mud Run

Dorney Park

Dorney Park
Allentown, PA

The Bugey Boys annual trip to Dorney Park.  We got there as soon as the park opened.  The park is always significantly less crowded during the week, so we took advantage of that.  We started off in the waterpark, where we never waited in a line for more than 3 minutes.

After that, we made our way into the regular park.  Since we were already wet, we hit up the rapids ride first, followed by the splash down, and finally the log flume.  Next up, we hit the Demon Drop.  Nathan was all about it, but Chris was a little nervous.  He manned up though, and the 3 of us went on.  The great thing about this ride is that once it starts, its over in about 2.5 seconds.  The anticipation is by far the worst part.

Onto Steel Force.  

This is by far the most massive roller coaster the boys have been on to date.  If you look at the below picture, you will see a smaller roller coaster to the right called The ThunderHawk.  Seriously, look at the size difference.  We went on Steel Force several times, with Nathan going back to ride by himself to he could sit in the front seat.

After spending a few hours in the park, we went back over to the waterpark, had a bite to eat, and then hit more water rides.  It started to rain, and the park cleared out (no thunder).  We laughed at this, since we were getting wet.....in a water park.  We had the whole park to ourselves (there was less than 50 people in the park).  It was fantastic.

The water park closed at 7pm, so we headed out to the car to grab some dinner we had packed.  It had been a 9 hour day spent so far, but I was willing to stay until 10pm to close it out.  However, we had hit every ride there was to hit, it was still raining, and it was only going to get colder.  The boys said "We're good, dad.  Lets go home."

No whining, no crying, no fighting, no arguing.  Best Bugey Boy day yet!!!

Tebow Time in Philly

2015 Preseason Opener
Lincoln Financial Field
Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia Eagles vs.  Indianapolis Colts

Today, I took Christopher to see his first Philadelphia Eagle’s game.  The Eagles were hosting the Indianapolis Colts, which featured QB Andrew Luck at the helm.  Luck is Chris’s favorite player and that is because I told Chris that Luck is his favorite player.  That’s right, I am forcing my son to choose his favorite player, which of course means it is not really a choice.  Now why would I do this one might ask?  Its simple.  Chris can have a bit of a temper.   When he plays football, he gets really mad when he gets tackled.  Its not that he is afraid of getting tackled, he just doesn’t like not scoring when he carries the ball.  If somebody does tackle him, then he gets quite angry at the tackler.  Now what does this have to do with Andrew Luck….well just see this clip here

That’s right, confusing defenders with kindness and praise.  Take the psychological high road. 

So while I have never really bought into the fact that athletes should be role models, Chris really needed a good role model.  This has really helped with his temper.  He has become a big fan of Luck (first non Philly favorite athlete).  So when the Colts were coming to town, I knew I had to take him.  The fact that it was a preseason game was all the better.  I didn’t have to try to get tickets for a regular season game, and I didn’t have to expose my 7 year old son to the crazy Eagle fans that he would see during a regular season game.

So, we start to make the trek down to Lincoln Financial Field.  Of course we had to stop and get soft pretzels on the way.  

Kick off is in an hour, and sure enough Broad Street is closed for some unbeknownst reason.  This means we had to go park far away, like really far.  Probably a good mile.   We started to walk towards the stadium with kickoff getting ready.  We showed up at the gate and we could hear the opening kick.  The Eagles were kicking to the Colts.  That meant Andrew Luck was going to be playing on that drive.  Because this was the first preseason game, I assumed he was only playing the first drive.  We came in the main gate, and of course our seats were all the way on the other side of the field.  Great.  The Colts go 3 and out and punt.  That means Chris may have missed Andrew (our whole reason for coming).  We try to hurry and get to our seats.  As this happens, the Eagles go 3 and out and punt.  The Colts are getting the ball back.  We can hear on the monitors that Luck was out for the second drive.  We are trying to run up the steps to get to our seats.  First play was an incomplete pass.  Still have to go up more steps.  Second play was a 3 year run.  Almost at our seats.  It was now 3^rd and 7 with 2 more flights of steps to go.  If this is an incomplete pass, then the Colts punt, and that will be the end of Luck.  We run up the last flight.  The Colts are breaking huddle walking to the line of scrimmage.  I point out Luck to Chris saying “There he is.  He is about to hike the ball.”  Luck drops back, fires a ten yard completion to Andrew Johnson for a first down, trots off the field, and on comes Matt Hasselback to replace him.  That’s right, we just got to see one play (but a successful one) from Andrew.  That was enough.  Chris was exited.  We then went to our seats and I just got to relax, feeling a moral victory for making sure Chris got to see at least one play for Andrew.

The cool thing was after he came out, Luck was still very visible on the sideline for the rest of the game, so Chris could always see him.    (below standing in the middle of this pic with arms crossed) 

We got to see Matt Hasselback, a former Super Bowl starting QB who at the time of this game was the oldest QB in the league

And future Hall of Fame kicker Adam Vinateari.

The game was fun.  The Eagles were up at half time.  They scored 3 first half touchdowns, including a punt return.  Chris was having a blast.  All I cared about was that he was having a blast.  Anything happening on the field was irrelevant to me.  As the 3rd quarter was about half way done, I was just lounging in the sun.  Couldn’t care less about what was going on.  Just wanted my son to have a good time.   The Eagles had gotten possession of the ball on their 20.  Then the crowd started to make some noise as #11 trotted onto the field.   After a two year absence, he was back in the NFL….Chris asked what everyone was chanting.  I told him it was the two greatest syllables ever spoken by any human

TE – BOW

Tebow's first snap

The man was back in the NFL, playing for the Eagles, and I got to witness his first completion for the team.  It was fantastic.  It was like watching “Rudy,” only this was real, and Chris was eating it all up.  For all he knew, Tim Tebow was as good as Peyton Manning or Tom Brady.

Tebow Touchdown

So Timmy played the rest of the game, scored a TD at the end, and Philadelphia was treated by having the following 3 people all a one venue…..Tim Tebow, Andrew Luck, and Christopher Bugey.

What an awesome day!!!

The Franklin Institute

The Franklin Institute

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Diggerland

So we decided to take a trip to Diggerland in Berlin,NJ.  Its a construction themed amusement parks for toddlers up through middle schoolers.  Outside of Disney World, it was the best amusement park I have ever been to as a parent.  Short lines, small crowds, reasonable price, and we all got to drive construction vehicles around.  Seriously, how does that not beat any other park except Disney World.

Nate on the escavator